Radiant Blade of the Wilderness

Chapter 146: The Awakening Block

Freezing rain worse than snow came down in shards of ice, coating the rammed-earth road to Immortal Grotto County in a layer of rime.

It made the road unfit for horses at full gallop, and travelers coming and going had no choice but to find the nearest post-station inn and wait for clearer weather the next day.

Ding Songyan and Pan Yunzhou had barely led their horses to the entrance when a waiter came out to meet them, smiling his practiced, polite smile.

"Gentlemen, we have only a few standard rooms left at forty copper coins per night. If you’d like to stable both horses, that’s five liters of feed and one bundle of hay per horse, a separate total of thirty-five copper coins."

Feed here meant black beans, at five copper coins per liter.

"Two rooms—" Pan Yunzhou hadn’t finished before Ding Songyan cut him off.

Ding Songyan smiled and said, "Senior Brother Pan, one room between us is enough. This freezing rain came so suddenly, so who knows how many more people will need a room later. If the inn fills up, in this bitter cold, we can’t very well have them sleeping next to the kitchen stove, can we?"

For a moment, Pan Yunzhou was taken aback. It was as if the person before him was not Ding Songyan, but Zheng Zhuxi.

"Junior Brother Ding, you are very considerate." He took out one qian of silver and thirty copper coins and handed it to the waiter.

After settling the horses and checking their room, both of them went back downstairs with their packs to order some food and hot wine.

Every table in the hall was occupied. Some were traveling merchant caravans; some looked like wealthy men returning home; others were clearly jianghu martial artists with a number bearing physical anomalies. There were also itinerant entertainers drifting between north and south who had seized the occasion to ply their trade—singers, storytellers, acrobats—each occupying a patch of floor, filling the inn with noise and life.

Ding Songyan paused to watch for a moment and found himself hearing The Legend of the White Snake—an adapted version at that, with a new romantic subplot for the Green Snake and a fictional young man from a wealthy family added in.

If you ask me, the Green Snake should be paired with Fahai or Xu Shilin to create any real dramatic tension... Ding Songyan, "author" of the original story, quipped to himself.

He and Pan Yunzhou found a table with only one other person, exchanged greetings, and sat down.

Both wore the Brightnight Sect’s winter combat attire, one with a sword at hand and the other with a saber, neither concealing their jianghu identity.

"The fragrant pan-fried duck in Yuejiang Prefecture is very famous. Shall we order some?" Pan Yunzhou played the gracious host.

Ding Songyan was happy to follow the host’s lead.

He had already taken stock of their tablemate: a man of thirty-six or thirty-seven, wearing a square-settled cap and a thick blue padded jacket. He showed no physical anomalies; his chin bore a beard, his eyebrows were thick and heavy, and the outer corners of his eyes drooped slightly. His entire bearing was one of gloom, and he sighed from time to time.

While waiting for the food to arrive, Ding Songyan asked his tablemate in a thoughtful tone, "Friend, why all the sighing?"

The man glanced at him.

"I have troubles of my own."

He clearly had no interest in engaging further.

Ding Songyan appeared not to notice the hint and said earnestly, "Why not share it? Meeting as strangers is its own kind of fate. One head thinks poorly, two heads think better; and even if our wits are dull, we might still serve as stones from another hill."

The man paused, then gave a bitter smile.

"It is long past being the matter itself. I am Wu Jiting from Immortal Grotto County..."

It had been a long time since anyone had listened to him, and gradually he said more and more.

By his account, he had grown up in comfortable circumstances with fields and storefronts; he had trained in martial arts from childhood, hoping to pass the Orchid Examination—Great Zhao’s martial examination—and leap at once to a court appointment or a military captaincy. But his talent was insufficient and his temperament was lacking. Approaching thirty, he had not yet entered the Great Proliferation Realm and couldn’t even register for the Orchid Examination.

Left with no choice, he had abandoned martial arts for scholarship, turning to Confucian studies in hopes of taking the civil examination.

Great Zhao had both martial and civil examinations: the martial was the Orchid Examination, the civil was the imperial examination, each held every three years under normal circumstances. Of course, even a Zhao scholar would have some martial arts foundation, and in any office—whether at the provincial, county, or prefectural level—one of the chief officials had to be exceptional in martial arts and capable of keeping order, while the others had to have passed the civil examination and be skilled in governance.

Taking Dingjiang Prefecture for instance, Magistrate Lin Hansheng was at the Grandmaster realm and could keep the jianghu in check, while one of his deputy officials had passed the civil examination. He was a little weaker in martial arts, but was no slouch in civil administration.

In the previous dynasty, governance had largely been monopolized by the great noble families. When Great Zhao was first founded, the moment of dynastic transition provided the opportunity to establish both the Orchid Examination and the civil examination. The deep resources of the noble families meant they would still outperform the common people in both martial and civil examinations, but at least it gave those of exceptional talent among ordinary people a chance.

Wu Jiting had some aptitude for Confucian studies and managed to progress through the early stages to sit the provincial examination, but at that hurdle he had failed twice in a row.

Between the martial training and the scholarship, he had sold off a good deal of his family property. Despondent and weary, he had given up and turned to trade in hopes of making his fortune, only to lose money. Now in the middle of the New Year season, he still had to hurry to the prefectural city to deal with the aftermath.

"All I ever wanted was to make something of myself..." Wu Jiting had not touched his wine and yet seemed slightly drunk.

Ding Songyan listened quietly to the end, took a bite of a cold dish that had just arrived, and shook his head as if he understood.

He pondered briefly.

"Have you heard, Brother Wu, of the huangliang dream?"

"I have." Wu Jiting looked at Ding Songyan, puzzled.

Ding Songyan smiled and said, "In the legend of the huangliang dream, the Daoist used a celadon pillow, but that’s not the truth of it. It was a peach-wood pillow.

"That peach-wood pillow was later damaged and split. A piece of it was fashioned into an awakening block, which I was fortunate enough to obtain. It can help a person live through a lifetime of worldly experience in a dream and obtain profound enlightenment. Perhaps it could offer you some clarity, Brother Wu. Would you be willing to try?"

Wu Jiting immediately turned wary.

"Is there a price?"

"Not a single coin." Ding Songyan sighed. "My own experience a few years ago was a little like yours, Brother Wu. We are kindred souls."

Wu Jiting’s eyes moved as he thought it over for a good while, then decided to call the waiter bringing the food over as a witness.

With someone else present, he put his mind at ease and agreed to try.

Cautious, but not cautious enough. No wonder he lost money in trade... Ding Songyan laughed inwardly and rummaged in his pack to produce an awakening block.

He had brought it in preparation for returning to his old trade in Immortal Grotto County.

If he couldn’t turn up any leads, he genuinely planned to spend a few days telling stories in Immortal Grotto County and see if he could draw out anyone who had seen him before.

"Brother Wu, hold this awakening block, let drowsiness come over you. You can rest on the table or lie down on a bench." Ding Songyan passed over the awakening block, which was perfectly ordinary on the outside and also very ordinary on the inside.

Taking advantage of the moment when he had bent his head to search through his pack, he had already altered his appearance, his anomalies concealed in an instant.

Under the curious gazes of several nearby tables, Wu Jiting gripped the awakening block, folded his arms as a pillow, and lay face-down on the table.

Ding Songyan helped himself to a piece of the fragrant pan-fried duck, then poured a cup of freshly warmed wine for himself, Pan Yunzhou, and Wu Jiting alike.

After counting ten breaths in silence, he let his right hand fall naturally to the side of his thigh, pressed two fingers together into a sword-point, and tapped through the air toward Wu Jiting.

...

Wu Jiting toiled in trade for years and lost more of the family property.

He simply wound down the business and returned to his studies to sit the civil examination.

This time, hard work bore fruit: he passed the provincial examination and earned a place to travel to the capital for the final round.

He shouted with joy. In Flame Capital he passed the examination and every stage sailed smoothly. He rose to become a senior court official, and enjoyed wealth and splendor, growing more arrogant with every passing year.

Seeing this, his aged father stepped forward and slapped him hard enough to send stars across his vision and blood to his lips.

The blow brought him back to his senses. He had never become a court official; he hadn’t even sat the examination again. After the business failure, he had taken up medicine, concocted a remedy of his own devising, and upon taking it had fallen into a strange hysteria.

To cure his hysteria, his elderly parents had sold off everything they owned. Now the whole family was crammed into a crumbling dwelling with bare walls and nothing before them but a bowl of cold, watery congee.

In desperation, his father had struck him hard during a bout of hysteria, and inadvertently cured him.

Wu Jiting looked at his parents, worn and aged beyond their years, at their clothing filled with patches, and felt the cold wind seeping through the gaps in the crumbling walls. Suddenly, tears streamed down his face as profound understanding struck him.

What have I actually been doing all these years?

The most precious joy of family was right beside me all along, and I turned a blind eye to it, and dragged my aging parents down with me.

...

Weeping without sound, as if he had lived an entire life and witnessed a sorrowful end, Wu Jiting truly woke from the dream.

He lifted himself upright and saw the young hero across from him watching with a slight curve at the corner of his mouth. The wine before him had not yet gone cold, and the dishes were not yet all served.

"Well?" Ding Songyan asked with a smile.

Wu Jiting’s face was streaked with dried tears. He spoke in a low voice, "I understand now what is most precious amid the vicissitudes of this world.

"Once I have settled this business, I will trade no more. I’ll tend to the fields and storefronts, get a wife, raise children, and care for my parents."

He rose to his feet, held the awakening block in both hands, and bowed solemnly.

"Thank you, Young Hero, for waking me."

Ding Songyan took back the awakening block and said with a smile, "Think nothing of it. Your profound awakening is the finest thanks I could ask for, Brother Wu."

Wu Jiting let out a long breath and bowed again.

"Then I’ll return to my room and make preparations for what lies ahead."

He turned and walked toward the stairs with a remarkably light step, as if a great weight had been lifted from him.

Pan Yunzhou glanced at the awakening block in Ding Songyan’s hand. He hadn’t expected his junior brother to have such a remarkable object.

No wonder his comprehension is so extraordinary!

Once Ding Songyan had put the awakening block away, Pan Yunzhou asked quietly, "Has this Wu Jiting truly had his huangliang dream and received a profound enlightenment?"

"For now, yes. What comes after is another matter." Ding Songyan said with a smile. "Haven’t you heard the saying, Senior Brother Pan? The other shore is hard to reach, and a gambling habit is hard to break."

"I haven’t." Pan Yunzhou suspected his junior brother had just made it up on the spot.

Ding Songyan considered for a moment and said, "An enlightenment lasts a moment; keeping to it lasts a lifetime. Throughout history, there have always been those who achieved profound enlightenment through some single experience and withdrew from the mundane world of dust, only to become entangled again in something of the same kind years or decades later and return to it. Arising, abiding, decaying, and emptiness—this is what the cycle of things has always been.

"For us martial artists, in the cultivation of our hearts and minds, we must still ’wipe and polish at all times, lest the dust settles.’ Those who can say ’originally there is not a single thing, where does dust alight?’ are always in the minority.

"And besides, what one understands now is not necessarily entirely correct. There may be new profound awakenings still to come.

"That is why even a Sage only dares speak of free and easy wandering, and not of transcendence."

Pan Yunzhou was moved by these words and fell into earnest reflection.

Just then, a middle-aged man from the merchant caravan at the nearby tables rose and came over, smiling as he addressed Ding Songyan, "Young Hero, is that awakening block for sale? My employer is willing to pay a fine price."

Ding Songyan waved his hand at once.

"Not for sale."

If I sold it, wouldn’t that make me a fraud?

And Wu Jiting would be branded my accomplice...

The middle-aged man tried to persuade him, but upon seeing Ding Songyan’s firm refusal, he had no choice but to return and report back.

Pan Yunzhou glanced toward those tables and said after a moment’s thought,

"Junior Brother Ding, even if you wanted to help Wu Jiting, you shouldn’t have done it in public like this. Once others learn of a treasure, the trouble it brings has no end."

Ding Songyan glanced at Pan Yunzhou and said in a lowered voice, "Otherwise, who would I test my sword on?"

"Uh..." Pan Yunzhou was stunned. After quite a long moment he said, "But what if you run into a powerhouse you can’t handle?"

Ding Songyan said with an amused laugh, "Then I’d just hand it over."

It’s worth a few coins at most. Why die for it?